<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Rudimentary Relationship Studies by HareStomp</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25424773">Rudimentary Relationship Studies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HareStomp/pseuds/HareStomp'>HareStomp</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Community (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Start of s2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:35:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,554</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25424773</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HareStomp/pseuds/HareStomp</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff's ex comes back after 11 years with a massive surprise.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jeff Winger/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I usually write J/A but I really liked this idea.</p><p>Thanks to the people over in the fanfics channel of the Community discord, they are very nice.<br/>Disclaimer: no own community am stupid</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>It’s the start of Jeff’s second year at Greendale and he’s feeling pretty good about himself. He’s found an amazing group of friends, even though he still has trouble admitting how much he appreciates them out loud. Then that’s when he sees <em> her </em>, Breanna Riley, walk onto the GCC campus. He thought he’d never see her again, as soon as he sees her face he turns back to the study group and gets lost in his thoughts. He thinks back to the last time he saw her.</p><p>
  <em> “Jeff” Breanna starts sobbing as she tries to form a complete sentence “We need to break up, I can’t stay with some unstable college dropout.” She keeps sobbing like she really isn’t happy about the decision. Jeff just stands there dumbfounded, he thought this was just gonna be a fun date night. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Wait, what? Brea we can work through this babe. What do you want me to do?” Jeff can’t hold back the tears falling down his face. He isn’t one to cry often but this moment seems to require it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I’m sorry Jeff, I’m so so sorry.” She walks out his apartment door and slams it behind herself. </em>
</p><p>That was the last time Jeff had ever seen her beautiful face, as he’s thinking about the fact that just the sight of her long brown hair, green eyes, and freckles can send his heart rate flying, Abed snaps him out of his reverie.</p><p>“Jeff, what’s wrong, you look like you just saw a ghost.” Abed says, Jeff turns to him and tries to gather his thoughts enough to come up with a witty remark to get Abed off his back. He knows if Abed suspects anything he’s not going to get away without massive amounts of questions.</p><p>“Abed, there is no such thing as ghosts and I am fine.” Jeff says, and judging by the look Abed gives him it wasn’t good enough. <em>Shit</em>, Jeff thinks, he knows Abed isn’t letting go of this now. He’s positively screwed, and now the whole group is looking at him and <em>shit</em> <em>shit</em> <b><em>shit</em></b>.</p><p>“Jeff… what’s wrong?” Annie asks in a soothing tone that she probably hopes will get him to spill but he absolutely refuses to talk to them about this. They could know about anything else in his past but this is the one thing he’s not sure he can survive reliving.</p><p>“Everything is fine, let’s study.” Jeff says unconvincingly because realistically, absolutely nothing is fine. The woman who ripped his heart out of his chest and stomped on it 11 years ago just walked right back into his life. Her calling him an unstable college dropout was what prompted him to fake his way into a law career, in some futile attempt to win her back even though he hadn’t spoken to her since that day.</p><p>“Jeff you are so obviously hiding something, spill.” Britta says, earning her an icy glare from Jeff. He turns to the rest of the study group who are all looking at him expectantly.</p><p>“Okay so what if I’m hiding something, I’m not telling you so drop it.” Jeff says and he slams his textbook open for added effect.</p><p>“Jeff, we’re not dropping this and you know that. You can either tell us yourself or we can figure it out on our own when this inevitably comes full circle.” Abed states plainly, and Jeff knows he’s right. He has a feeling the reason Brea is on campus is for him and no matter what that means, he knows the group will find out about her somehow. He comes to the decision to just tell them now and rip off the band-aid.</p><p>“Fine.” He sighs and clears his throat trying to prep himself to talk about something that has pained him for so long. “I just saw my ex from 11 years ago who stomped my heart into the ground walk into the library.” He speaks his sentence quickly just trying to get it over with. The group just stares at him dumbfounded all trying to figure out how to respond to his admission.</p><p>“Jeff with a heart, why do I find that implausible.” Britta snarks at him.</p><p>“Maybe because Breanna ripped it out and left me broken!” Jeff snaps back at her, letting all his anger that he still had pent up from the break up out at Britta. The group just sits in shocked silence. Annie visibly tenses due to the exchange but doesn’t say anything.</p><p>“Well Jeff, Breanna sounds like he wasn't good for you.” Pierce says, at that comment, Jeff gets up to leave.</p><p>“If you guys don’t mind, I’m gonna go figure out what the hell she’s doing here,” Jeff says and then turns to leave. He has a feeling the group is gonna follow him but as long as they don’t get in his way he really doesn’t care. He already told them everything they needed to know about Brea.</p><p>As he’s walking down the hallway he saw Brea go down he starts thinking back to his time with her. The worst part of it all is Jeff is pretty sure he’s still in love with her. No matter how many random women he tried to fill the void that she left, nobody was the same as her. He could feel the tears well up in his eyes that always came along with memories of Brea. At this point he didn’t really care about the study group seeing him crying, he had already told them so much it didn’t really matter.</p><p>He stops as he looks into the reception area of the Dean’s office through a window and sees her there. He can’t help himself from admiring her form, she is pretty short, 5’4 if Jeff were to guess. She is definitely stronger then her size would imply though, Jeff had learnt that the <em> hard </em> way that’s for sure. Her hair was definitely longer then he remembered, now her sandy brown locks flowed down a little past her shoulders. Then if you looked a little lower--</p><p>Jeff was snapped out of his trance when he heard a voice he hadn’t heard in years.</p><p>“Hello, I’m looking for a Jeffrey Winger, I’ve been told he’s been taking classes here.” The sound of Brea’s voice still sent butterflies flying in his stomach, he hated that feeling and he had tried to push it down for years. With the day he was having though, he might as well just give up the apathetic cool guy shtick.</p><p>“She’s pretty, I can see the appeal.” Abed’s voice startles Jeff.</p><p>“Abed go away, I’m trying to figure out what she’s doing here.” Jeff whispers even though Brea probably won’t notice him as she’s pretty engrossed in her conversation with the receptionist.</p><p>“I can help you, Jeff, this seems like a pretty classic ex-lover trope that you’re in.” Abed states plainly. “She’s come in to stir up a little bit of drama in the group.” Abed says and Jeff just stares back at him.</p><p>“Abed, this is not a TV show or whatever crap you’re always saying--” Jeff is cut off by Abed</p><p>“I’m actually pretty sure we're not on a TV show right now” Abed says, and Jeff just chooses to ignore it.</p><p>“My ex-girlfriend is not here to stir up drama, she’s obviously here for a real reason that I am trying to figure out, so leave.” Jeff motions for Abed to leave but Abed stands still, focused on a young girl, probably around 10, sitting on a chair in the reception area.</p><p>“Jeff, did Breanna have a kid when you were together?” Abed asks, Jeff sees what he’s looking at and begins to worry.</p><p>“Um, no she didn’t” Jeff replies, he was starting to get nervous because the little girl definitely had some similarities to him. He steadfastly refused to even acknowledge that thought though. There was no way he had a kid, it was just too much to even fathom.</p><p>“How long ago did you break up again.” Abed asks, Jeff just worries more.</p><p>“Um 11 years ago.” Jeff responds and then starts analyzing the kid a little closer, trying to figure out how old they are.</p><p>“And how old do you think that kid is?” Abed asks, even though Jeff is pretty sure Abed already knows the answer to the question.</p><p>“She looks like she’s around 10.” Jeff cringes as he says it, knowing the implications of what he just said. He can tell the rest of the group is listening in from down the hallway but he doesn’t really care right now. How could he have a kid with the love of his life and not have known about it for 10 years? He felt like he was about to collapse, everything he knew about his life was suddenly shifting and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it.</p><p>“Jeff, I’m 99% sure that’s your kid.” Abed states in his normal monotone, Jeff has to brace himself on the wall so he doesn’t pass out. This can’t be.</p><p>“Shit” Is all Jeff manages to get out before he sees Breanna turn to leave the reception area, the child in tow.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Brea's perspective of the events</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks to the community discord fanfics channel, even if they aren't exactly supportive of this idea I still appreciate them &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Breanna had spent the last 10 years of her life as a single mother, but it was finally becoming too much. The questions about daddy were piling up and she couldn’t handle it. She knew this day would come eventually but she wasn’t sure she was ready to face Jeff again. She still regretted how she ended her relationship with him and she thought he had pretty good reason to still spite her for it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bringing a 10 year old into a man’s life at random is hard in all situations, and she knew this was even more sensitive than most situations. She hoped he would forgive her enough to at least be a part of his daughter's life. She could still remember the conversation she had with her mom after she found out she was pregnant perfectly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Breanna, you can not stay with that man, he’s irresponsible and can NOT care for your child!” Her mom screamed at her. Brea always knew her mom disapproved to a point but not to the point of forcing her to break up with him.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I love him mom, he would happily support us if I just told him!” She screamed back, she had a feeling this was a lost cause but she wasn’t ending her relationship with Jeff without a fight.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“No, there will be no arguments here. You end your relationship with that boy or you end your relationship with us. That is final Breanna, you can make your decision.” Her mother said calmly, knowing what Brea would have to do since she was still in College.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Fine mom!” Brea screamed as she slammed the door behind herself to go dump Jeff. The tears had already started falling before she even got to his place.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She still stalked Jeff a little bit, she told herself it was to make sure whenever her daughter asked she would be able to tell her where to find her daddy. Brea knew the real reason though, she still loved Jeff but she knew there was no more chance for that relationship after how she ended it. She hadn’t dated much since Jeff, sure there had been the occasional date or two but none of them ever got to the Boyfriend stage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Brea had gotten used to seeing Jeff in the newspapers, he had become quite successful after she left and sometimes in the back of her mind, she hoped it was for her. She knew that was a stupid thought but she can’t help herself. Jeff had been aimless while they were together and then he got it together once she left. She at least thought she had something to do with it, even if it was just because of her insulting him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now Jeff was at a Community College, she thought it was quite the step down from lawyer but she assumed there was a pretty good reason behind it. She had a feeling the 2 years between them breaking up and him becoming a lawyer was not enough time for him to meet all the requirements to become a lawyer. She had a feeling he cheated his way in but she wouldn’t know until she saw him again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That is how Brea and her daughter Taylor found themselves on the Greendale Community College campus, a place she never thought she would end up. As she walked into the library she could see an interesting looking study group, they seemed to all be interrogating the one man whose face she couldn’t see. The back of the head did look oddly familiar but she couldn’t place it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She kept walking down the hallway to where the map she saw told her the Administrations office would be. Taylor was walking with a skip in her step behind her, she was super excited to meet her father. Brea knew she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up to high because there was still a large chance Jeff would refuse to talk to her but she had hope. She just had to hope Jeff would become a part of their lives. She walked up to the receptionist as Taylor took a seat to wait.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello, I’m looking for a Jeffrey Winger, I’ve been told he’s been taking classes here.” Brea said. The receptionist looked up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can find him for you, do you mind if I ask why you’re looking for him?” The receptionist asked, Brea knew she would have to tell her to get the information.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s the father of my child.” Brea responded plainly, the bald man who had been walking in the background eavesdropping on their conversation passed out as she said that. Brea thought it was weird but just decided to ignore it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay I’ll find him, give me a minute or two.” The receptionist responded, Brea decided to just stand there and wait. She couldn’t believe that she was about to see the love of her life again for the first time in 11 years. The fact that she never told him about their kid was definitely going to cause some conflict but she had to do it so she could get support from her parents. Brea just had to hope he wouldn’t hate her too much, or literally pass out at the sight of their child.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jeff Winger should be in Anthropology 101 with Professor Duncan in about 10 minutes, here’s the room number. You can wait for him outside until he gets there or wait till he finishes the class, it’s his last of the day.” The receptionist told her, Brea decided she would wait until after the class to tell him, she had a feeling it was going to be a long conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She thanked the receptionist and went to grab Taylor. “Are you ready to meet your daddy Taylor? We just have to wait another hour and a half.” Brea asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hour and a half?” Taylor asked with a pout, it was hard to say no to her sometimes. She had her father's beautiful blue eyes and it was always a constant reminder of him, even when Brea didn’t want it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s about to be in a class but we can meet him afterwards, I might have to talk to him alone first to tell him some stuff okay?” Brea asked, hoping Taylor would understand. Taylor nodded in response and the two of them walked hand in hand out of the office.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <span>That’s when Brea saw him, the man she still loved braced against the wall with a Polish man attempting to comfort him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Well I guess I don’t have to break the news anymore</span>
  </em>
  <span> is all she could think before Jeff turned and made eye contact with her.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Reviews and Kudos are appreciated</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeff meets Taylor</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Community discord is cool, we have a bunch of fun writers and you should come join us :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jeff stared into Brea’s beautiful green eyes for what felt like an eternity, he couldn’t make himself look away no matter how badly he wanted to. He had to keep an internal mantra going of <em> You’re mad at her, You’re mad at her </em>to keep himself from falling into the pit that was his love for Brea. Then he got a closer look at the young girl standing behind Brea, looking a little confused.</p><p>Now with an even closer look, he couldn’t help but notice all the similarities between him and the kid. She had blue eyes just like him, and a similar facial structure. She also seemed quite tall for her age which Jeff couldn’t help to think had come from him, but first, he needed to fully confirm his theory with Brea. Jeff turned to Abed.</p><p>“Hey buddy, can you give me some time alone? I’m probably gonna miss Anthro, but I doubt Duncan will care.” Jeff said to Abed, Abed just nodded his assurance and walked away, getting the rest of the study group to leave as well. He knew he was gonna have to deal with their questions later but that was nowhere near his number one concern at the moment.</p><p>“Well, I think you have a lot to explain to me and I would <em> love </em>to hear it.” Jeff remarked dryly, having a feeling he knew exactly what she was gonna say. She looked a little surprised at how quickly he got straight to the point, but she composed herself quickly.</p><p>“Well hello to you too” Brea said, trying to stall a little bit but Jeff wasn’t having any of it, staring back at her with anger in his eyes. Brea turned back to her daughter. “Hey Taylor, why don’t you go wait back where we just were while me and your father talk for a bit.” Brea shooed Taylor away while Jeff stood there in shock at how casually she slipped in that he was, in fact, the father.</p><p>“Well I guess you answered the one big question right there anyways.” Jeff bit back as soon as Taylor was out of earshot.</p><p>“Yes you are her father, but I can explain why you’re just now finding out.” Brea pleaded with Jeff hoping he would see her side of the story but all she could see in his face was rage.</p><p>“Oh yes <em> please </em> explain. I would love to hear it.” Jeff spit sarcastically, voice dripping with venom.</p><p>“My mom made me break up with you when I found out I was pregnant, I needed her support to get through college and help with Taylor.” Brea pleaded hoping Jeff would understand her point.</p><p>“You could have at least told me, I’VE HAD A KID FOR 11 YEARS THAT I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT!” Jeff screamed at Brea, finally releasing some of the anger he held towards her. </p><p>“If I told you I was pregnant you would’ve tried to stay involved and my parents still would’ve cut me off.” Brea said, nearly on the verge of tears. She knew he would be mad but her hope that he would stay for Taylor was diminishing and Jeff could tell. He knew he had to reassure her soon but he needed to let out more of his anger before seeing Taylor.</p><p>“OF COURSE I WOULD’VE WANTED TO HELP, SHE’S MY GODDAMN DAUGHTER!” Jeff screamed, not caring if he was making a scene. He thought this was a situation worthy of making a scene for.</p><p>“I understand you’re hurt, but I hope you’ll still meet Taylor. She was very excited to meet you” Brea’s voice was barely above a whisper, and the tears had already started to fall. Jeff hated seeing her cry but he knew he had to get it out.</p><p>“Of course I’m still gonna be involved with my daughter, I’m not some deadbeat like my own dad.” Jeff said in an attempt to reassure her, even though he was still massively pissed off.</p><p>“Thank you for that, she’s been so excited to meet you all week.” Brea’s voice was still barely above a whisper but the tears had stopped.</p><p>“Don’t think I’m not mad at you though. I am still <em> pissed </em>, you’ve kept a child from me for nearly 11 years and it’s gonna take me awhile to forgive you for that no matter the reasoning for it. Also I still think your reasoning is crap.” Jeff said making sure Brea understood how shitty what she had done to him was.</p><p>“I understand, thank you so much for being reasonable. I’ll go get Taylor.” Brea walked back into the administration office to grab Taylor, giving Jeff some time to think. The full extent of what had just happened hadn’t hit him yet but he was still shocked. Finding out your ex, who you’re still in love with, had a kid with you that you didn’t know about is hard to wrap your head around. Jeff was still trying to figure it all out himself when Brea walked back out with <em> his </em> daughter behind her.</p><p>“Hey Taylor.” Jeff said in the closest thing to a soothing voice he could manage in his shaken state.</p><p>“Hi, so you’re my daddy?” Taylor asked in such a shy voice that Jeff knew if Shirley and Annie were here, they’d be awwing at it.</p><p>“Yes I am, you can confirm with your mom if you need to.” Jeff said, still in shock at being called daddy for the first time outside of the bedroom. Taylor turned to Brea and asked for confirmation, Brea just nodded the affirmative.</p><p>“Why have I never met you before?” Taylor asked with puppy dog eyes that Jeff was wondering how he was ever gonna be able to resist them.</p><p>“Well I didn’t know about you either, your mom never told me that you existed. Just so you know though, if she had told me I would’ve been right here with you.” Jeff said, and he knew he meant it. He had just met this kid but just knowing that she was his own flesh and blood made him fall in love with her instantly.</p><p>“Why didn’t mommy tell you about me?” Taylor asked and Jeff had to contemplate the answer for a second, he had a feeling Brea wouldn’t appreciate him delving into the full story.</p><p>“Your mommy had her reasons, now how about we get out of this stuffy campus. I know there's a park nearby, how about we go there?” Jeff asked, looking up at Brea who just nodded yes. She had been getting a little teary eyed at her child finally meeting her father.</p><p>On the way to the park Jeff made basic conversation with Taylor about school and her friends and such. He made a point of entirely avoiding eye contact with Brea to show her he wasn’t just gonna forgive her. Brea seemed happy enough to just watch the father daughter interaction though, considering she had never seen it before.</p><p>Once they got to the park and Taylor had run off to play it left Jeff and Brea sitting on a bench alone. Jeff knew he sure as hell wasn’t gonna break the silence himself so he let her decide what she wanted to say while he watched his daughter play.</p><p>“You’re really good with her, you know. I can tell she already loves you.” Brea said, finally turning to Jeff and making eye contact with him for the first time since they left Greendale. </p><p>“Well the feeling is mutual, she seems like a great kid.” Jeff said, he turned right back to face the park hoping to avoid as much conversation as possible</p><p>“She would love it if you came over for dinner one night, it gets a little lonely with just the two of us sometimes.” Brea asked, this confirmed Jeff’s suspicions that Brea was in fact single. Jeff wasn’t sure what to do with that information just yet so he decided to store it away for later.</p><p>“I’d love to, I mean she’s my daughter I’m gonna take every opportunity I can get to spend time with her.” Jeff added on the last part to make sure Brea knew he was still livid with her handling of the situation.</p><p>“She’ll love to hear that.” Brea said and then turned back to the playground having given up hope that Jeff was gonna make eye contact with her. After a few more minutes of tense silence between the two Taylor came running up to them.</p><p>“Mommy I’m hungry, can we go get dinner with Daddy?” Brea asked, but Jeff knew he had to get back home and sort out all of his feelings before he spent more time with Taylor.</p><p>“That’s up to your daddy if he wants to come with us.” Brea turned to Jeff wondering what he was gonna say.</p><p>“I can’t tonight sweetie, but I would love to some other night. How about Friday?” Jeff asked in the hope that she wouldn’t be too sad about 2 days without seeing him. Then without warning she ran up to him and embraced him in a tight hug.</p><p>“That’s okay, see you Friday.” She said, but it was muffled by his stomach. Jeff returned the hug happily, Taylor pulled out of the hug and walked back over to Brea. “Goodbye daddy, I love you.” Taylor said and hearing all those words in the same sentence had the effect of absolutely melting Jeff’s heart.</p><p>“Goodbye Taylor, I love you too.” He said as he waved to her as the two women walked back to the Greendale parking lot. Jeff sat back down on the park bench to contemplate for a few minutes, everything had just happened so fast and he was pretty sure it still hadn’t hit him.</p><p>When Jeff got up and walked back to his car he couldn’t stop the little skip in his step. He had a daughter and she loved him. That brought pure joy that he was pretty sure was never gonna wear off. He got into his car and drove home, still enthusiastic about everything.</p><p>Once he sat down on his couch though, it all hit him at once. He felt absolutely exhausted, he had so many conflicting feelings flying through his head and he had no idea what to make of all of them. The most prominent of them was anger towards Brea but he knew that was gonna wear off soon, at least she had told him before Brea was off to college or something. The next most prominent emotion in his mind was love. He knew he was still in love with Brea but he sure as hell wasn’t going to do anything about that anytime soon considering how much she had betrayed him. He also felt an intense amount of love for Taylor, he didn’t know you could love somebody so quickly but he did.</p><p>After sitting on his couch and watching mindless television for a few hours he got up to go to bed. As he laid in bed and fell asleep, his last thoughts weren’t of his daughter, they were of Brea.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeff answers some questions</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter took a while to write because of an arm injury I had but I'm back at it now. Once again thanks to the Community discord for the support, they're pretty cool.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jeff had managed to avoid the study group for most of the day on Thursday, he skipped Anthropology again and had avoided them at lunch. He knew they were gonna have lots of questions and he didn’t think he had the answers. He was gonna have to answer them at some point but he planned on stalling for as long as possible. He made the last second decision to skip Study Group as well and he went home and attempted to figure out the answers to the questions he expected to be asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he got to school on Friday he knew he was gonna have to see them. He was way behind in Anthro and he needed their help. They met before class on Friday’s so he knew that it was time. He stalled and waited till 15 minutes after the group started to minimize the amount of time they would have to interrogate him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff walked into the study room and instantly everyone turned to stare at him. He went and took his normal seat and everybody was just staring at him not saying a word and after 30 seconds of staring they got on his nerves and he gave in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay! Let's study!” Jeff said, even though he knew that happening was probably a lost cause.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nuh uh Jeff, you’re not getting away with ghosting us for the last day and a half. You didn’t even answer your phone.” Britta remarked, visibly pissed off at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well what do you want to know, nobody seems to have asked me about why I disappeared” Jeff remarked dryly, still attempting to stall as long as possible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That's because we know why you disappeared Jeffrey” Shirley said in a motherly tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh and why </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>I disappear huh?” Jeff said sarcastically.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were avoiding the group questioning about your past because you yourself don’t know the answers and are scared of revealing too much.” Abed stated like a fact, Jeff just stared at him dumbfounded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait I didn’t know that.” Troy said while looking at Abed with an astonished look on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay we knew you were avoiding us because you didn’t want to talk about your ex but not all that other stuff Abed said.” Britta said, turning her attention back to Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, what Abed said was disturbingly accurate and a little scary.” Jeff said in a surprised tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god Jeff was that your kid?!” Annie, who had been quietly becoming more and more annoyed with the trajectory of the conversation, shouted at Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, we're just gonna jump right into the big questions, you sure you don’t want all the background information first?” Jeff said defensively.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Answer the damn question Jeffrey” Shirley said in her low voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yeah it's my kid.” Jeff caved in and told them the truth in a quick low voice barely above a whisper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How have you hidden a kid from us for an entire year?” Annie somberly said, attempting to pierce Jeff’s walls with her disney eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I haven't exactly been involved in her life in the past” Jeff said, Annie looked disgusted with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeffrey! Those poor girls, a child needs a father!” Shirley said holding her cross necklace close to her heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on dude” Troy said, visibly disgusted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice.” Pierce remarked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No no no not like that.” Jeff said quickly, trying to do some damage control after the misinterpreted response. “She never told me about the kid, we broke up and I was none the wiser. Wednesday was the first time I met her.” Jeff explained to the group after the large misunderstanding.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That bitch, how can you keep a child from their father like that. Do you need me to key her car for you Jeffrey?” Shirley said, doing a complete 180 from her previous stance on the matter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No need for any revenge plots guys, I’m pissed at her but I still want to be involved in Taylor’s life. She’s a very sweet little girl and I’m happy Brea finally told me about her, even if it’s 10 years later than she should’ve.” Jeff said plainly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> you guys break up?” Britta asked in a curious tone of voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well at the time she said it was because I was a quote </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘deadbeat college dropout’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>which I’m not gonna lie was true. Yesterday though she said the real reason was because her parents told her she had to either break up with me or lose their financial support so she made the decision for the sake of our kid. She never told me about the kid because she thought I would convince her to stay with me which was probably true.” Jeff told them all he knew about the breakup hoping that the questioning would end there. He was really hoping he wouldn’t get prompted to tell them about his ever-present feelings for Brea, as he was still figuring that out himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So how are you with the kid Jeff?” Abed asked, obviously trying to mine the entire situation for tropes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I’ve only spent like an hour with her total but she seemed pretty taken with me. Which makes sense considering she’s probably been asking about me for a long time.” Jeff replied, hoping nobody else had anything more to add.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So Jeffrey, how are you gonna be involved with them?” Shirley asked, even if she didn’t like what Brea had done she probably still wanted him to get back together with Brea for the sake of a happy family under god.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shirley, if you’re asking if I’m gonna get back with Brea, the answer is most likely no. I think there are still some feelings there but what she did to me isn’t exactly easy to forgive.” Jeff shot back, only realizing afterwards that he had admitted to his feelings for Brea. He knew he wasn’t getting off easy after saying that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What types of feelings are we talking about Winger?” Britta said while glaring at him suspiciously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what have I missed in Anthropology the last couple days? I’m assuming not much considering it’s Duncan teaching the class.” Jeff said in a sorry attempt to deflect from the question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Answer the question Jeff.” Britta said to him, visibly annoyed with his deflecting of any talks about feelings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I may or may not still have </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>like feelings for Brea.” Jeff whispered quietly, Britta gasped at the easy admission, Annie just looked lost and sad. “I’m not going to do anything about them though because what she did is difficult to forgive, I’m still gonna be involved with Taylor though, even though I just met her I still love her.” Jeff said and Shirley just nodded knowingly, already very familiar with the bond that comes with knowing a kid is your own flesh and blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How are you still in love with Breanna when she did such bad things to you and there are so many better women for you?" Annie asked desperately.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> "Well once you're in a relationship with the love of your life it never really goes away." Jeff shot back, choosing to ignore the crushed expression that crossed onto Annie's face momentarily. “Now can we </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span> study, I’ve already told you far more than you need to know about my relationship with Brea and I have missed multiple Anthropology classes.” Jeff said in an authoritative tone, showing he wasn’t going to answer any more questions even if they were asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The group murmured their agreements and they began telling him what he had missed, as he expected it wasn’t much. There was still some tension between him and Annie but he thought he had made things pretty clear between them at this point and hoped the previous outburst would be the last to come from her about his relationship with Breanna and Taylor. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head though and worked diligently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After what felt like hours of studying to Jeff, but what was realistically only 30 minutes. His thoughts began to drift. He thought about how he had just admitted to 6 people that he was in love with his ex, something he was still coming to grips with himself. He wondered how he was gonna deal with those feelings when he was supposed to be pissed at Brea. He WAS pissed at Brea, he had a kid for 10 years and didn’t hear a single thing about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He missed so many things and he couldn’t help but think about, her first words, her first steps, her first day of school, he knew he wasn’t gonna get over the fact that he had been kept from witnessing all these things and yet he still couldn’t bring himself to be entirely mad at Brea. He wondered if that’s what true love was, or if it was just him being far too nice to somebody who had ripped his heart out of his chest and then hid a kid from him for 10 years. He was inclined to pick the ladder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he was stuck in his thoughts he didn’t notice most of the study group leaving. First Troy and Abed for a filmmaking class they had been taking together. Then Annie left for one of her hospital administration classes. Once Pierce’s racist comments got the better of Shirley she left and Pierce, seeing no more reason to stay, left right after. That left him and Britta sitting there, and she was giving him a look like she was waiting for him to say something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay I’ll bite, what’s up Britta?” Jeff said, finally looking back up from his textbook.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you think I was gonna let you get away with just admitting you’re in love with your ex and not talking about?” Britta snarked back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, actually. I thought we had talked about my feelings enough to last us at least into the New Year.” Jeff shot right back not missing a beat. No matter what he said he really did enjoy his friendship with Britta. The back and forths between them helped him keep his wit up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nuh uh mister. What are you gonna do about this?” Britta asked, dropping their normal banter and going straight for the kill.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I was planning on doing, let me think...” Jeff paused and mocked like he was deep in though. “Doing absolutely nothing about it.” He shot back and closed his book and began getting ready to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No way Jeff you said you’re still in love with her, you have to do something about it. And don’t you dare leave before we talk about this more.” Britta reprimanded as she grabbed Jeff’s arm to keep him seated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s not much to talk about, I’m pissed at her right now and I’m definitely not ready to forgive her for it yet.” Jeff said honestly, hoping if he told the truth he could get away from Britta sooner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s understandable for now, but soon you’re gonna forgive her. What happens then, Jeff? Do you want to get back together with her? You seriously have to figure this out.” Britta remarked seriously, trying to get her point through Jeff’s thick skull. Jeff just reclined back in his chair, defeated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know Britta, I can’t give you an answer on that because I can’t seem to figure it out for myself. That’s as honest of an answer as I can give.” Jeff said, hoping Britta would take that and lay off of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay Jeff, but you seriously have to figure that out soon. So what are your plans for the weekend, picking up floozys at bars to deal with your problems?” Britta playfully remarked and gave Jeff a nudge on the shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m actually going to Brea’s for dinner tonight but I don’t have any plans for the rest of the weekend, you wanna go out for drinks on Saturday?” Jeff casually said, trying to slip in the fact he was going to Brea’s house quickly, hoping Britta wouldn’t pick up on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure let's do that,” Britta said and sat back in her chair for a second before she realized. “WAIT You’re going to Brea’s house?!” Britta asked and Jeff just nodded “Tonight?!” She shouted, Jeff just nodded again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep.” He said simply like there was nothing of note about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeff! Why didn’t you tell us about this? We are so going to get drinks on Saturday and you’re telling me everything, and I mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Britta said seriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t want to tell you guys because I knew you would get all judgy and stuff. This is just for me to spend more time with Taylor and means nothing about my relationship with Brea.” Jeff said, almost entirely meaning it, deep down though he was excited to have a reason to see Brea more as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll give you that, but we are definitely getting drinks on Saturday, meet me at The Red Door at 7.” Britta said, Jeff groaned at the bar choice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First off, The Red Door is such a horrible hipster bar, but, I will go if you agree to let me leave right now.” Jeff stuck his hand out for Britta to shake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Deal, see you Saturday!” Britta sing-songed to him as he walked out of the study room. He still had some conflicting feelings about everything, he would never admit it but talking to Britta had actually helped him quite a bit. He got lost in the monotony of a day at Greendale as he waited to go back to his apartment and get ready for his dinner with Brea and Taylor.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeff has dinner with Brea and Taylor</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Once again thanks to the discord fanfics channel, they're cool.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jeff walked into his apartment with 2 hours to go until he had to be at Brea’s for dinner. He knew that was a lot of time but he still felt an impulsive need to get ready right away. He wanted to look as good as possible for Brea, even if it was just a dinner with her for their daughter, and he was supposed to still be pissed at her. He didn’t know how long he was gonna be able to hold up the fa</span>
  <span>ç</span>
  <span>ade of anger towards Brea but he didn’t want to let her off too easily for hiding their daughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He walked into his bedroom closet and looked around. Jeans were an easy choice for the occasion so he grabbed his favorite dark blue pair and set them on his bed. The shirt was a much harder decision to make, he wanted to pick something casual, but not too casual. He contemplated a sweater for a moment before finally landing on a cobalt dress shirt that he knew made his eyes pop. On his way out he grabbed some turquoise striped boxer briefs and headed for the bathroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took a shower and cleaned up quickly even as he tried to stall as long as possible. He was trying to not let himself be alone with his thoughts for too long before heading to Brea’s, he had a feeling he would psych himself out if he did. By the time his hair was artfully disheveled and his long routine had been completed, he still had 40 minutes before he had to leave. He took a seat on his couch and turned on the TV, deciding to watch an episode of or two of The Office in an attempt at distraction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He managed to succeed in pulling his thoughts away from his confusing feelings and before he knew it he was in his car heading to Brea’s place. He let his thoughts wander for the short 10 minute drive but they didn’t get too out of hand. He was excited to see his daughter again, he had a lot of time he had to make up for but he just couldn’t stop thinking about how he was just as excited to see Brea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled up to the modest house and couldn’t help to think that it seemed Brea had done quite well for herself. The house looked quite nice from the outside, 2 stories with a lot of space from what he could tell. He walked up to the door and knocked, that’s when he noticed his hands had begun to shake on their own accord. He decided to hide them in his pockets until he could calm down the sudden burst of nerves. He heard some commotion on the other side of the door and then Brea opened the door. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans combo but he couldn’t stop staring, she was beautiful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Jeff.” Brea said quietly, visibly nervous herself. Jeff got a sudden urge to attempt and calm her nerves but he didn’t get the chance when he felt the mass of a 10 year old colliding with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Daddy!” Taylor said, slightly muffled by his stomach. Jeff returned the hug happily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well hello Taylor, hey Brea.” Jeff said, addressing the two of them individually. “So, what are we having for dinner?” He asked, directing his question at Brea, but instead he got a response from Taylor, who had exited the hug and grabbed Jeff’s hand to lead him to the dining area.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re having Spaghetti!” She exclaimed, Jeff followed her into the dining area to see the table already set with 3 plates.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow! Smells great, let’s grab our plates and go get some.” Jeff said and went to grab his plate and handed one to Taylor. Brea walked up behind them and went to grab her plate as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The three of them went and got their food while Jeff continued an animated conversation with Taylor, Brea only hopping in occasionally. Once they sat down and had begun to eat Jeff realized he should probably talk to Brea more, as he had kind of shut her out of the conversation thus far.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So Brea, where have you been working at?” He asked, genuinely curious as she seemed to be pretty well off for a single mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m actually a physician, my parents helped a lot in putting me through med school and with Taylor.” She said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow that’s seriously impressive, having a kid while going through college can’t be easy.” Jeff said, honestly impressed with the amount of effort that must’ve taken for her. “I mean I didn’t even manage to get through college while only taking care of myself.” He remarked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up back at college? I know you were a lawyer for a while there.” Brea asked, Jeff just sighed, he had a feeling this would come up but that didn’t mean he was in the mood to answer it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s kind of a long story but, in a nutshell somebody found out my Bachelors degree was… less than real, and I got disbarred. They said if I went back to college and got a </span>
  <em>
    <span>real</span>
  </em>
  <span> Bachelors they would allow me to practice law again, so I ended up at the easiest possible college, Greendale.” He said honestly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, wow. That’s a lot to take in.” Brea said and then averted her gaze back down to her food, which Jeff took as a signal to resume his conversation with Taylor, who had been sitting and watching the conversation unfold, while stuffing her face with spaghetti.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The three of them continued to talk about random subjects while they ate. By the time the food was gone, they were all still talking with no sign of stopping. At a certain point Jeff realized how domestic all of it felt, a simple dinner with the wife and kid. He had to stop that train of thought quickly though, thinking of Brea as his wife could only lead to bad things, for all he knew she didn’t even feel the same way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon enough they had put away the food and moved over to the living room. Jeff was just savoring his limited time with his daughter and basically doing anything she wanted to do. Sadly, after a while Brea called out to Taylor for her to get ready for bed. Jeff felt pretty awkward at that point with both of them upstairs so he decided to go and do the dishes so he would have something to occupy his hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a few minutes he heard Brea walk up behind him “Oh Jeff you don’t have to do the dishes, you're the guest here.” She said as she walked up beside him and started to do the dishes herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s the least I could do, you made such a great dinner, like seriously that was amazing, thank you.” Jeff said honestly, but when he tried to get back into the sink she blocked him off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seriously Jeff, after everything I’ve done to you making dinner and doing the dishes is not a problem.” She said as she kept bumping him away from the sink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay how about you wash I dry, seriously there is no point in arguing this.” He said as he grabbed a dish towel from a rack. Brea decided it wasn’t worth it to argue it and started handing him dishes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pair worked in amicable silence for a while until Jeff decided to ask a question “So, how did you know I was a lawyer? I never mentioned it and you brought it up on your own.” Jeff noticed the slight blush that crept its way up her cheeks when he asked her the question and he had to fight the urge to just kiss her right then and there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I saw you in the newspaper sometimes when you won a big case and I wanted to make sure I knew where to find you in case Taylor wanted to meet you.” Brea responded while keeping her eyes trained downwards at the dish she was washing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Awww were you stalking me Brea?” He said and gave her a playful nudge on the shoulder to try to indicate that it didn’t matter. “Seriously I don’t care, it was smart of you to keep tabs on me.” He said as Brea passed him another dish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, soooo…” Brea hesitated before continuing the question and Jeff shot her a puzzled look “How has dating been going for you?” She attempted to sound casual but failed miserably, Jeff decided to let her off the hook and not mention it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not very well honestly, haven’t gotten much farther than a 5th date with anybody and I’m single right now. How about you?” Jeff attempted to sound casual as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m still single right now as well, dating with a kid is pretty hard,”  Brea responded and looked up and finally made eye contact with Jeff for the first time since they had started doing the dishes. Jeff caught her eyes flick between his eyes and lips but managed to snap himself out of it and go back to drying dishes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, how’s college been? It didn’t go too well for you the first time did it.” Brea asked as she returned the playful shoulder nudge Jeff had given her earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well Greendale is seriously the easiest college out there, they have a class called </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ladders</span>
  </em>
  <span> I mean come on.” Jeff said and Brea laughed at the insanity that is Greendale.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seriously, Ladders?” Brea said through giggles and Jeff started laughing too at just how weird Greendale looked like to an outsider.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know! I think I would have gone insane by now if it wasn’t for my friends.” Jeff said as he put away one of the last dishes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You made friends with people at a Community College? I am surprised Jeff, I thought you would hate everybody there.” Brea said as she walked over to the living room and sat down on the couch motioning for Jeff to join her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well it started off as a study group but they sort of wormed their way into my heart.” Jeff said as he took a seat in the arm chair facing Brea, purposefully omitting the part where he started the study group to sleep with Britta.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How cute, so, tell me about these friends of yours.” Brea asked and settled in to the couch as Jeff leaned back, readying some stories about his idiotic but lovable friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two lounged and talked Greendale for a long time, Jeff telling Brea some of the weirdest stories from his time at Greendale and telling her about his friends. He left out some things about his, </span>
  <em>
    <span>history</span>
  </em>
  <span>, with Britta and Annie though. Jeff couldn’t help himself from enjoying how domestic it all felt, lounging around the house and just talking. Then soon enough it was 11 PM and Jeff knew he had to get back to his own place, but didn’t want to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I should probably be getting back home now, it’s pretty late.” Jeff said as he looked down at his watch to check the time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah I guess, it was good to see you again.” Brea responded as she got up and led Jeff over to the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For sure, that was a great time. So, when can I come over again?” Jeff asked as they stood by the door, genuinely excited to spend more time with his daughter, and with Brea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have plans this weekend to go visit my parents but we’re free anytime after her school ends all through the week.” She responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I have school of course but I can probably come over for dinner on Wednesday.” Jeff told Brea as the two of them stood awkwardly in the doorway each waiting for the other to say something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well see you on Wednesday.” Brea said as she went to open the door for Jeff. As he walked towards the door he turned around and made eye contact with Brea. He can’t help but notice her eyes flick quickly to his lips. In that moment he decided to just say fuck it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff leaned down and connected their lips, starting off sweet and chaste. Slowly it escalated becoming more and more passionate until Jeff had Brea trapped against the wall. Jeff felt Brea sink into the kiss. Jeff felt like all his concerns were just being lifted off of his shoulders and he started to feel weightless. He cupped her head with one hand and grabbed her waist with the other. Everything about the kiss just felt right and he never wanted to stop, but when Brea tilted her head back and moaned into his mouth everything came crashing back down, and he felt himself return to reality.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff stopped back from the kiss and made eye contact with Brea. He couldn’t help but notice how attractive she was with a flush going all the way from her face down to her cleavage, mussed hair, her lips swollen and reddened.  All he wanted to do was go back in for another kiss, and maybe a bit more but the fact that he was supposed to be pissed at her came flying right back into his head after a moment, or a few minutes, of weakness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So… Wednesday. See-ya,” Jeff said and then turned back to the door and walked as fast as he possibly could back to his Lexus. Leaving a flustered Brea behind in his wake, who was unable to even form words after the best kiss she’d had in 11 years. All she could was stand in her doorway and put her fingers to her lips, and think about how absolutely screwed she was.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeff gets some advice</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>:)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Once Jeff got home his brain still hadn’t stopped racing after the kiss with Brea. He hadn’t experienced a kiss like that one in years, and all he wanted to do after was go further. He knew that wasn’t the right thing to do at the time though, they hadn’t talked at all about their relationship and having sex would’ve only made it messier. Jeff still couldn’t shake the feeling of unease, so he did what felt right, he went for the bottle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff poured himself some scotch and took a seat on his couch. At that point he no longer had any doubt in his mind about whether or not he wanted to be with Brea, he knew he wanted her. The problem now was logistics. He had a feeling Brea wanted to be with him too considering how quickly she had returned the kiss, but it was a lot more complicated than that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a kid involved now, meaning they had to be sure of what they wanted if they were to get back together. There was also the problem of them not having seen each other for 11 years, they were different people now. Jeff was actually looking forward to seeing Britta the next day, he needed a second opinion from somebody on this. He knew she would tell him the truth, no sugar coating involved. Jeff fell asleep on the couch, thoughts of Brea swirling around his head, his scotch barely touched.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff walked up to The Red Door, ready to meet Britta. He was about 15 minutes late as he always was, and a little bit nervous to see Britta. He planned on telling her the truth about what happened but that didn’t mean he was excited to see her reaction. He was just happy they were at a bar so he could have a drink or two throughout the whole ordeal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He walked in and immediately noticed Britta sitting on a bar stool, she was faced away from him but he could tell from her posture that she was already a little bit tipsy. He had a feeling that would help him through this conversation, a drunk Britta was not a smart Britta. He went up to her and tapped her on the shoulder to catch her attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Winger!” Britta slurred excitedly, she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. He upped his estimation of her inebriation level from tipsy to full on drunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Heyyyy, Britta. How many drinks have you had?” Jeff said slowly as he tried to pull away from the hug, Britta finally released him and patted the barstool to her left. He sat down and turned to face her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just a fewww, I’ve been waiting for hours Jeffff.” Britta slurred as she grabbed her drink and took another sip. Jeff had an inkling that Britta wouldn’t remember this conversation the next day, so he could get away with confessing just about anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Britta, we were supposed to meet 15 minutes ago, I’m barely late. It doesn’t really matter though, I prefer you drunk.” Jeff remarked and then turned to the bartender and ordered his usual, a Macallan, neat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Winger. Spill, how was the dateeee.” Britta said extending the last syllable for what felt like forever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First off, it wasn’t a date, there was a kid there you know. That was my main focus. It went well though, me and Taylor got along pretty well and me and Brea chatted for a bit after Taylor was in bed.” Jeff said, following his statement with a sip of scotch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did’ya chat about, your burning passion for her that hasn’t burnt out after 11 years.” Britta said poking at Jeff’s chest right above his heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No Britta we did not talk about ‘burning passion’” Jeff said as he made air quotes through the last two words. “We caught up, you know 11 years is a long time. I told her about Greendale, she told me about her life.” Jeff said, stalling a little bit, though he still planned on telling Britta about the kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooooh did you tell her about the study group?” Britta asked, interested in what he had said about them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she said she thought you guys were interesting and wanted to meet you all sometime. I don’t plan on having that happen anytime soon though.” Jeff told Britta honestly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soooo, did anything else happen?” Britta said, elbowing him and winking playfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um yeah, we actually kissed right before I left.” Jeff mumbled the last bit of the sentence into his glass</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait hold up, you kissed her Winger?!” Britta shouted at Jeff, almost falling off her stool, not expecting Jeff to actually answer her question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, it was a heat of the moment thing. I also kind of left immediately without saying anything to her and I’m sort of eating dinner with her again on Wednesday.” Jeff said quickly hoping Britta wouldn’t be able to understand it all in her current state.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeff!” She shouted and then smacked him on his shoulder “You absolute idiot, you did just about every single possible wrong thing you could’ve done!” She said, accentuating her point with another slap.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was I supposed to do, profess my love to her?” Jeff said, scooting away from Britta so she could no longer slap him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you could’ve actually talked to her though, you idiot.” Britta said as she attempted to lean over and slap Jeff again, but failed and fell off of her stool. Jeff barely caught her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Britta, if you’re falling off of stools already, do you need me to drive ya home right now?” Jeff said as he attempted to pull Britta back up to a standing position.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No I’m fine, I don’t need your help.” Britta said as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Britta, you need to get home before you’re stuck in a ditch passed out. Come on I can drive you, I barely drank any.” Jeff paid for his and Britta’s drinks, making a mental note to tell her that she owed him for that, and began to help out of the bar and to his car. Once they were both buckled up Jeff started the car and pulled out of his spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeff, you should just ask her out, you're the father of her child. She probably wants you back because of that, even if it’s stupid.” Britta mumbled as she leaned her head against the window.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Britta, it’s not that simple.” Jeff said, keeping his eyes on the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It really is that simple, you’re just stupid.” Britta said, when Jeff turned to look at her and respond she was already asleep against his window. He just shook his head and turned back to the road and drove towards Britta’s apartment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Jeff woke up the next day he was still feeling conflicted. He needed a second, more sober opinion on the matter. He decided he would go hang out with Abed and spend some quality time with him, it had been a while since they had hung out one on one. Jeff had actually begun to miss the time they had spent together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff got himself ready for the day and sat around for a little bit. He had no idea when Abed was even at his dorm so he shot him a quick text to ask. Abed responded nearly immediately that Jeff could come over anytime during the day as Abed was just watching movies in his dorm for the day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff made the decision to go to Abed’s right away since he was already ready and didn’t see the point in waiting. Jeff grabbed his keys and drove over to the Greendale campus. As he walked into the dorms he noticed it was pretty empty, he also wondered why a Community College even had dorms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff walked up to the door, after a minute of waiting he finally heard the door open and was to face to face with Abed, who was dressed in his normal casual clothes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Jeff, I’m watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World if you wanna watch with me.” Abed said as he went back to his couch and sat down. Jeff took that as his sign to go in so he walked in and took the seat next to Abed. It felt very similar to the time they had spent rooming together while Jeff was homeless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, how are you doing Abed?” Jeff asked, a little uncomfortable with the silence that had been persisting since Jeff had sat down. Abed didn’t answer immediately, just pausing the movie and turning to look at Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can either watch the movie in silence, or talk about why you’re actually here. I’ll let you decide.” Abed stated as he turned his attention back to the TV and unpaused the movie. Jeff stewed in his thoughts for a bit, allowing himself to get pulled into the movie, until he felt ready to discuss the issue at hand with Abed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay I’ll talk about it now.” Jeff said, Abed quickly paused the movie and turned to face Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, what’s up?” Abed asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, I went to Brea’s two nights ago and hung out with her and Taylor and it went well-” Jeff said when Abed cut him off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I already know that, something else happened because otherwise you wouldn't’ be here looking for help from your friend.” Abed said as he gestured between himself and Jeff to accentuate his point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay we had an amazing kiss right before I left and then I said nothing.” Jeff said looking for any reaction in Abed’s face, but being met with an entirely blank slate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well why did you just leave, you said you love her right?” Abed asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah I’m pretty sure I’m still in love with her.” Jeff stated, no longer outwardly or inwardly denying that fact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you’re pretty sure she feels the same way about you?” Abed asked, trying to understand the situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she seemed pretty happy to respond to the kiss.” Jeff responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then what’s the problem, you’re both in love with each other, just get back together.” Abed said and then turned back to the TV to unpause the movie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s been 11 years Abed, it’s not that simple. We’re both such different people from when we last saw each other.” Jeff said as he sunk even deeper into the couch.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeff, I could spout off something about how love is eternal and all that crap. But I won’t, You said you two got along during the dinner so you probably still would be good in a relationship. It’s not as complicated as you’re making it, you’re both pining for each other, just go for it.” Abed stated and with an air of finality to the conversation turned the movie back on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff let Abed’s word swirl around in his head for the rest of the movie, so far everyone had said it should be simple, and maybe it just would be. As he watched Scott Pilgrim battle off a bunch of ex-boyfriends he started to realize it really could be a lot worse. He was still into Brea and he thought she was still into him, all he had to do was ask her out and it would be done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff decided he would see how the dinner went on Wednesday and then decide if he would ask her out after it. Once the movie was over Jeff got up and went over to the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks Abed, the advice actually helped a lot.” Jeff called out over his shoulder as he started walking out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anytime, Jeff.” Abed called back to him, Jeff thought he might take Abed up on that offer more often, he really was pretty wise for his age. Now Jeff just had to wade through another couple of days at Greendale and then he could see Brea again and really consider the concept of getting back together with her.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Brea and Taylor's weekend</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Not sure how I feel about this chapter honestly, hope you like it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Brea stood against the wall of her entryway dumbfounded after Jeff had left. The last thing she had expected to come from the night was a kiss, especially a passionate one that left butterflies in her stomach for far longer than a kiss should be able too. Then Jeff just walked away, talk about mixed signals much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She thought she would be fine seeing Jeff again now, it had been so long, 11 years to be exact. She barely even thought about him anymore, he had just become Taylor’s father in her mind. Then after one night of what could be considered </span>
  <em>
    <span>domestic bliss</span>
  </em>
  <span> it all came flying back at her like a freight train.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was she left to do now? Should she wait for him to make a move or make one herself? She knew doing nothing about it just wasn’t gonna be an option anymore if Jeff was a part of her life, she felt far too strongly for him to just have a co-parenting arrangement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She walked back to her bedroom slowly, dragged back by thoughts of a real life with Jeff. Brea did her nightly routine on autopilot, brushing her teeth extra hard in a vain attempt to wash away the kiss with Jeff. Once she finally got to bed she let the exhaustion win and passed out quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next day Brea took Taylor out for a fun day, hoping it would be a good distraction. First they went to the park and Brea sat down on a bench as she watched her daughter play around. Then she looked around and saw all the dads with daughters and her thoughts strayed to Jeff. Thinking about the time they spent at the park when she first came back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she looked at the full happy families she imagined her and Jeff in place of them, playing with their daughter. She used to have thoughts like these for the first few years with Taylor but she had them locked up in a coffin 6 feet under after a while. Then she saw Jeff again and near-instantly those thoughts were exhumed and left to run wild in her brain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took Taylor out for a late lunch and let herself get pulled into a conversation with her daughter and just not think for a while. That only worked for about 10 minutes though before Taylor herself started asking about Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you like Daddy?” Taylor asked through a mouthful of food, failing to use the manners Brea had attempted to teach her many a time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh yeah, he’s very nice.” Brea stuttered out, hoping Taylor would talk about anything </span>
  <em>
    <span>but</span>
  </em>
  <span> Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t you let me meet him sooner?” Taylor asked with the puppy dog eyes in full effect and a light pout going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because you never asked about meeting him seriously until recently.” Brea responded, telling Taylor most of the truth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I wish I asked sooner.” Taylor said as she started to push her food around the plate with a fork, looking so dejected it hurt Brea to look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh sweetie it’s not your fault, I should’ve let him into our lives before you had to ask.”  Brea said as she reached across the table to give Taylors hand a reassuring squeeze.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When are we gonna see daddy again?” Taylor asked quietly timidly looking up from her plate to make eye contact with Brea, she could see a small flicker of sadness flash through her daughters eyes and she realized how much Taylor needed Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We made plans to have dinner again on Wednesday night, he seemed very excited to spend more time with you.” Brea reassured Taylor as she released her hand and went back to her food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay!” Taylor said excitedly, her entire mood shifting in an instant at knowing that she would get to see Jeff again soon. Brea wasn’t sure how Jeff had done it but he seemed he had already formed an amazing bond with Taylor in just 2 meetings. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pair returned to their meals and low effort conversations, Brea once again temporarily expelling Jeff from her mind. That didn’t last for long though, soon she started to pick out all the families and think about her and Jeff in their place. She couldn’t help herself, all she wanted was to have Jeff sitting next to her and Taylor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew realistically it was her fault that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> have that, but she still blamed her parents for the most part. They had made her choose between a happy family and a career, what the hell was she supposed to do. Sometimes she couldn’t help but think how much better her life could’ve been with Jeff though. It always felt like she was missing something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she had made the decision already, that was in the past and she didn’t want to be stuck living in what if’s and possibilities. It didn’t help anybody to get hung up like that and she decided to just enjoy that her family was a little fuller now. She would let Jeff decide how involved he would be and let the cards fall where they may.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brea and Taylor went back to their house after lunch and enjoyed a nice day at home watching movies and playing games. After her contemplation Brea was a lot less hung up on wishing Jeff was there, but was still a little disappointed that he wasn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next day Brea and Taylor headed up to her parents house, it was about an hour drive to their place, but even after the ultimatum given 11 years prior she still loved spending time with them so the drive was a small price to pay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The problem with this visit though, was Brea was planning on telling her parents that Jeff was involved in her life again. They were bound to ask questions that she didn’t have answers to, and his current occupation as a student wasn’t doing her any favors. She walked up to the door of her childhood home with Taylor in tow and knocked. Within a minute she heard the door opening.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Brea!” Her mom, Cindy, said as she opened the door. “And hello to you too Taylor!” She said as she pulled them both into a hug. Once the hug ended she motioned for the two of them to enter into the house. Brea could see her dad sitting on a couch in the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey mom, hey dad.” Brea said as her and Taylor walked over to the living room to take a seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So how have you been Brea, it’s been a while since you’ve come by.” Her dad, Sam, asked as he sipped his drink</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry for not coming by too often, it just gets busy with work and everything else happening. I’ve actually been doing pretty well recently.” Brea sighed and then decided to just rip off the band-aid. “I actually had Jeff meet Taylor earlier in the week.” She said and looked at her parents to gauge their reactions. Her mom looked unhappy with the development and her dad seemed a little happy. He always did have a soft spot for Jeff, but he couldn’t side with Brea on her relationship with Jeff if he wanted his to keep going smooth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I think that’s good, the man has a right to know and be involved with his daughter's life.” Sam said with an encouraging smile, her mom seemed to lighten at that comment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess that’s true, you better not be planning on getting back together with that deadbeat though.” Cindy said as she pointed a finger at Brea accusingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom he isn’t a deadbeat, he’s actually going back to school to get his degree.” Brea said, telling half of the truth in the hope her parents wouldn’t pry more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god you’re getting back together with him, oh my god!” Cindy shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom! Drop it!” Brea said as she pointed to Taylor hoping her mom would understand that she didn’t want to talk about Jeff around Taylor. Her mom seemed to understand and stopped shouting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, but we are having a conversation about this later.” Cindy added pointedly as she sat down and the family began making tense conversation as Taylor rambled on, oblivious to the death glares being passed between mother and daughter. The longer the tension persisted the more Brea wished she hadn’t decided beforehand to stay the night and call in sick to work and Taylor’s school the next day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her parents were happy enough playing games and spending time with Taylor but she couldn’t miss the obvious disappointment in her mother’s looks towards Brea. She was not excited for when Taylor went to bed. Once dinner was over and it was almost 9:30 she knew Taylor was tired and her stalling attempts began to fail. Soon enough she was tucking Taylor into bed and walking back down the stairs to see her parents waiting for her on the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, we’re probably going to leave around noon tomorrow.” Brea said as she went to sit down in an armchair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Breanna you can not get back together with Jeff.” Cindy stated like it was a fact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom, first of all we aren’t getting back together yet. Secondly, you don’t get to choose who I date anymore. I’ve had zero success with dating and Jeff has already happily accepted Taylor into his life. If he asks me out I will happily date him, Taylor already loves him and I still do. I don’t care if you support me or not, this is what I want.” Brea stated with authority, her mom looked at her like she wanted to argue but seemed to lose an internal argument.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, but I’m still not happy with this. He knocked you up while you were still in College and could have ruined your life if you weren’t so strong. Don’t get me wrong I love--” Cindy said when Brea cut her off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, is that why you have an irrational hatred of Jeff?! It wasn’t his fault, we always used protection but it isn’t a 100 percent guarantee!” Brea shouted at her mom, Sam looked on, choosing to not get involved in the mom and daughter argument. Brea started running up to her room. “I’m leaving first thing tomorrow and you can call me when you’re ready to accept Jeff into our lives and give up your irrational anger. He’s a good dad to Taylor!” She shouted as she walked up the stairs, momentarily forgetting that Jeff and her weren’t even dating yet and just assuming it was gonna happen in the future.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Brea! I’m sor--” Her apology was cut off by a loud door slam as Brea walked into her room. Very grateful for the connected bathroom so she could go to bed while entirely avoiding her mom. She also packed up her bag before she went to bed and set an alarm for 5 in the morning, hoping that if she left right away she could make it to work and get Taylor to school.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning went perfectly according to Brea’s plan, she shook Taylor awake once she had everything packed up for them. She was confused but went along with it and they were out of the house by 5:30. She avoided her parents and managed to make it to work. Brea was pretty pleased with herself and had a good day at work. The next few days went by in a blur for Brea, and before she knew it, it was Wednesday and she was prepping for yet another dinner with Jeff.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeff has dinner at Brea's, again!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I really enjoyed writing this chapter, hope you like it too!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After the brutally long 2 days of Greendale classes and shenanigans, Wednesday came along and with it his second dinner with Brea and Taylor. After the study group session he sped home to get ready, he planned on asking Brea out on a real date and he wanted to look his best while he did it. Once he got into his closet he grabbed his favorite pair of dark blue jeans along with one of his blue sweaters since the Colorado cold was starting to hit.</p><p>He hopped in the shower and did his normal skin and hair care routines minus shaving. Brea had always liked it when he had stubble and he was pulling out all the stops for her. He examined himself in the mirror and ran his hands through his hair a few times trying to perfect the just rolled out of bed but still looking good look. Once he was entirely ready it was time for him to head to Brea’s place, he grabbed his keys and ran out the door. For once in his life he actually wanted to be early to something.</p><p>As he drove up to the house Jeff mentally hyped himself up, he knew he would have to wait until Taylor was asleep to ask Brea out to avoid all possible awkwardness. He didn’t want to wait but it was the best option. He just had to do what he did the last time, make basic conversation, and spend time with his daughter. He knew he <em> should </em> feel bad about being more excited to spend time with Brea then Taylor, but once he and Brea were together he knew he would have all the time in the world to become more acquainted with Taylor.</p><p>Once he made his way up to the door he wiped the sweat from his hands on his pants. Jeff rarely sweats but he felt like his nerves were justified. He put his hand up and knocked. Within seconds Brea was opening the door for him, it seemed as though she was as excited to see him as he was to see her. Once she opened the door he was blown away by how amazing she looked. She was wearing a simple green dress that made her eyes pop and hugged her form in all the right places. He realized that he had been openly gawking at her for quite some time and saw her begin to blush.</p><p>“Uh, Hey Brea, you look, amazing.” Jeff remarked honestly. Brea let a bashful grin spread across her face then averted her eyes to the floor.</p><p>“Thanks, um, you look great as well, I like the stubble.” Brea said, flustered herself. Jeff barely managed to hide his smirk when she mentioned his stubble. “Come in.” Brea continued in a calmer voice as she moved out of the doorway and walked towards the kitchen with Jeff on her tail. “Dinner should be ready in 15 minutes, you and Taylor can go hang out while I finish it up.” Brea told Jeff as she walked into the kitchen, he couldn’t resist taking one last look at her retreating form, Jeff then stepped in the living room to find Taylor sitting on the couch drawing.</p><p>“Hey Taylor, how are you doing?” Jeff asked as he took a seat next to her and checked out what she was drawing. </p><p>“Hi Daddy, I’m drawing.” Taylor said as she pointed at the drawing she was making, Jeff was actually really impressed with the drawing considering how young she was. He felt pride swell up in his chest just from looking at it.</p><p>The two began to make conversation about drawing and other interests while they waited. Just interacting with Taylor brought an unfamiliar warmth to Jeff’s chest and he loved every second of it. He had never thought of himself as somebody who would want kids, but now it just seemed so right. Brea was the only person he could really see himself settling down with, and he was so close to having it. Once Taylor went to bed he would ask Brea on a proper date, he no longer felt any nerves about it, he was just feeling excited. He knew she would say yes, he had seen the way she still looked at him.</p><p>“Dinner’s ready!” Brea shouted out from the kitchen snapping Jeff from his thoughts, him and Taylor stood up and walked over to the kitchen to grab their plates. When he walked in he saw a lasagna sitting on the counter. It was a meal that any other day he would’ve denied himself from having, but today he was feeling good about himself. He also didn’t want to say anything to make Brea mad before he asked her out. And he would be lying to himself if he didn’t think that the lasagna looked delicious.</p><p>“Oh my god, this looks and smells amazing Brea.” Jeff said as he scooped some lasagna onto his plate then went over to the dining room and took a seat. Brea and Taylor followed right behind him. “This must’ve taken you forever to make, thanks babe.” Jeff said, not realizing how he ended the sentence.</p><p>“Did you just call me babe?” Brea asked with a knowing smirk. Jeff felt a flush coming to his cheeks and started to sputter until Brea saved him from the embarrassment himself. “It was no big deal though, I had the time and I wanted to make something tasty.” Brea said as she dug into her own food.</p><p>“Well I can agree that this is tasty.” Jeff said as he started to eat as well. The three of them began to drift into simple conversation that mostly involved Jeff catching up on his daughter’s life. He still knew very little about her and he wanted to change that. After spending most of the dinner talking mostly to Taylor Jeff decided to ask Brea something.</p><p>“So, how was seeing your parents this weekend.” Jeff asked, unaware of the screaming match that had occurred prior to Brea leaving.</p><p>“Um, we kind of got into a fight. I don’t really want to get into the details but I ended up leaving early to not have to deal with them.” Brea replied trying to give as little information as possible and hoping Jeff would drop the subject.</p><p>“Oh, sorry to hear that, what was the fight about?” Jeff asked, oblivious to Brea’s discomfort at the line of questioning.</p><p>“Um, I’d prefer if we didn’t talk about it.” Brea whispered and Jeff decided not to push any harder on it as he had some first-hand experience with strained parental relations himself. He turned to Taylor and started to talk to her about the Study Group as to not push Brea too hard. The first story he retold was the one of the campus-wide paintball war.</p><p>“Wait, you guys actually played a paintball game with the whole school?” Taylor asked as she laughed at the absurdity of the story he was telling her from his previous year at Greendale.</p><p>“Yeah we did, and I won after a shootout with my Spanish teacher!” Jeff exclaimed, getting into the storytelling for the benefit of his daughter. During the story, Brea had gotten hooked into it as well even though Jeff had told her all about it the last time they had dinner. Soon enough Jeff had exhausted most of his bank of stories and dinner was finished.</p><p>“Can we watch a movie?” Taylor asked, giving Brea a pleading look, Brea then turned to Jeff who just gave her a nod that he hoped told her he wouldn’t mind staying for a movie.</p><p>“Sure, what do you want to watch?” Brea asked Taylor, who was already glowing in excitement.</p><p>“Beauty and the Beast!” Brea exclaimed and Jeff groaned but made no verbal disagreement. </p><p>“I’ll go grab it, you two can go get comfortable on the couch.” Brea said as she went off to grab the DVD and Jeff walked into the living room with Taylor leading the way. Taylor sat down on the far right side of the couch and Jeff sat down next to her in the middle. </p><p>“Do you like Beauty and the Beast?” Jeff asked, wanting to talk instead of just wait for Brea.</p><p>“Yes! It’s my favorite movie.” Brea responded bouncing a little bit on the couch. Jeff just laughed at her enthusiasm.</p><p>“Well I haven’t seen it in a long time but I’m excited to watch it with you.” Jeff said as he ruffled Taylor’s hair and sunk back into the couch. Brea soon walked in with the DVD case and put it into the DVD player.</p><p>Brea sunk down on the couch next to Jeff, not touching but close enough where he could feel the body heat radiating from her body. All Jeff wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and hold her close but he knew it wasn’t the time for that. If he wanted to discuss their relationship it would have to be done while Taylor was not present.</p><p>The family sunk into a comfortable silence as the movie began. Jeff attempted to focus on the movie but all he could focus on was how close to Brea he was. Beauty and the Beast couldn’t compare to the sight of Brea next to him and he had to catch himself when he realized he was staring at her multiple times.</p><p>Jeff looked at the space between him and Brea and realized it had gotten smaller in the time between when the movie had started and now. Brea was moving closer to him ever so slowly, and Jeff couldn’t wait any longer. He made the last scooch necessary and their thighs touched. It wasn’t a lot of contact but it was enough for Jeff’s heart to begin beating erratically in his chest. There was only one woman who could make Jeff feel this way and now Jeff couldn’t wait until he was able to do this much, much, more often.</p><p>Jeff put his arm around the back of the couch, still a little hesitant to initiate contact. He played lightly with her hair like he had always loved to do. He didn’t want to overstep his boundaries so he didn’t go any further than the hand in her hair.</p><p>No more than 5 minutes later, Brea, seemingly frustrated by Jeff’s lack of initiative, curled into his body and settled her head on his shoulder. Jeff was startled by the sudden movement but soon relaxed into it and held Brea close to himself. Brea let out a hum of contentment as she snuggled in closer to him. Her entire body fit into his perfectly like a missing puzzle piece.</p><p>Jeff had built up a reputation as being a manly man who never cuddled, but that was a massive lie. It just didn’t feel right cuddling with anybody but Brea. Any anxiety he had been feeling melted away and he allowed himself to be soothed by the feeling of his ex, hopefully soon to be current, girlfriend.</p><p>Jeff turned his attention back to the television and noticed it was already halfway over. He turned to his right to see Taylor still fully engrossed in the movie. Jeff pulled Brea as close to himself as possible and leaned back into the couch and let the relaxation wash over him. He hadn’t felt this comfortable in years and he really hoped it wouldn’t have to end anytime soon.</p><p>Jeff watched the rest of the movie floating on air and when it ended he noticed that Brea was asleep on his chest. Not wanting to disturb her sleep he turned to Taylor who was looking at the TV but seemed about ready to pass out herself.</p><p>“Hey Taylor, you wanna go to bed?” Jeff asked quietly, hoping Taylor would be fine getting into bed on her own.</p><p>“Yeah.” Taylor whispered as she drowsily stood up and walked over to the bathroom.</p><p>Jeff turned his head back to look at Brea who was comfortably on his chest and deep in sleep. He really didn’t want to disturb her, it was only 9:30 so he could only assume that she hadn’t been sleeping well recently. He mentally used that as an excuse for why he didn’t wake Brea up right away so he could go.</p><p>When he decided to lay down and let Brea splay out on top of him he continued to use it as an excuse. As he laid on the couch with Brea’s head right below his chin and he could feel her calm heartbeat right above him he found himself feeling tired as well. He knew he should wake her up and leave but every part of him just wanted to lay there and fall asleep with the love of his life in his arms. He didn’t care about all the problems with it, like the fact that he knew it was gonna kill his back, or that he was going to ask her out properly tonight. All he could think about was the strawberry smell of Brea’s hair and the feeling of her weight entirely covering him.</p><p>As Jeff felt himself drift off he didn’t feel any issue with not asking her out right away. He could ask her out anytime, and considering tonight, he had a feeling she would say yes. What he didn’t want to ruin was this moment, everything just felt right and he wanted to appreciate it. Soon he fell asleep and his heartbeat synced to Brea’s.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jeff wakes up on Brea's couch and is late for study group.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We're nearing the end of this story. Hope you all have enjoyed it so far! I plan on getting the next chapter out within a week or two.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jeff awoke to an unfamiliar environment, with an odd weight on top of his chest. He attempted to blink the sleep from his eyes and get a better look around at his surroundings. That’s when he noticed that he was in Brea’s house, asleep on her couch. Then he looked down at the weight on top of him and realized that it was Brea laying there, asleep, and content.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Memories of the night before started to flow back into his mind and he couldn’t stifle the smile that burst onto his face as he ran his hand through Brea’s hair. He knew he had planned on asking her out but this was much too comfortable for him to regret it. He wrapped his arms around Brea and snuggled in with her a little tighter, wanting to appreciate the moment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeff looked around the room to gauge what time it was, he had a study group meeting at 10 and he didn’t really want to be late to it. When nothing around the room told him what time it was he reluctantly removed his arm from Brea and checked his watch. Jeff instantly startled when he saw that it was 9:45.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew that a drive to Greendale from Brea’s house on its own was probably a 10-minute affair and he would have to get going right away if he didn’t want to face the questioning of the group. Jeff reluctantly shook Brea awake so she would get off of him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mmmm.” Brea contentedly sighed as she snuggled into Jeff’s chest even deeper, hugging him even tighter in the process. Jeff melted a little bit at that and he wanted to do was enjoy the moment even longer but he knew that he had to get to school. So he shook her a little bit harder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Brea, it’s time to wake up.” Jeff whispered into her ear, he could feel her shiver at the sound.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What time is it?” Brea asked sleepily as she looked up into Jeff’s eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s 9:45.” Jeff responded honestly and Brea immediately shot up and off of him as she started to run up the stairs to her room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, I’m late for work, and Taylor’s late for school. Shit shit shit!” She exclaimed as she ran up the stairs and out of Jeff’s sightlines all together. Jeff just sighed, he had a feeling he missed the opportunity to ask her out and was gonna have to wait another day at least. He got up slowly from the couch, working out the cricks in his back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once he had stood up he went over to the front door to start searching for his shoes, keys, and wallet, the only things he had brought with him to Brea’s. He wouldn’t have any of his school materials but that really wasn’t much different from a normal school day. He could just steal one of Annie’s pens in study group and then mooch off other people to get through classwork.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He grabbed his items and put on his shoes, then he started to look for Brea hoping to tell her that he was leaving. He went up the stairs and could hear the shower running so decided not to bother Brea anymore considering he had already made her late for work. He walked back down the stairs and over to the kitchen where he tried to find something to write with. He managed to find a pen and paper by her landline and ripped a page off and wrote Brea a note.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Dear Brea,</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Hey, I had to leave to get to class. Sorry for making you late but I had a good time last night. We need to talk though, text me if I can come over tonight.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>-Jeff</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stuck the note to the counter and hoped she would find it and text him. He went to the front door and let himself out. He got in his car and began the drive to Greendale, he was already late for study group and he was having trouble thinking of an excuse. He could tell them the truth but he felt he had already talked about Brea with them far more than necessary.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he pulled up into the Greendale parking lot he was already 20 minutes late and there was no explaining that away with his too cool for school persona. He decided to just strut into the study room like he owned the place and hoped they would just take it as him being himself. As he walked up to the study room he tried to work some of the wrinkles out of his jeans and sweater combo but had little luck. Sleeping on the couch had given him a serious walk of shame look that was not helping his case.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He opened the door and took his seat and immediately everyone's attention was on him, giving him the slightest tinge of uneasiness in his stomach.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, what are we studying?” He asked with a false air of confidence laced through his words. Everyone instantly looked absolutely exasperated with him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jeff, you're 20 minutes late and you look like shit. What’s up with you?” Britta asked him in her casually annoyed voice she always used with him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Am I not allowed to show up a little late on occasion? Maybe I was busy protesting something.” Jeff shot back, a bit off his game as he was still a bit off balance due to the situation he woke up in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow Jeff, that was a bit weak of a comeback. Must have been pretty bad what happened.” Britta said smugly as she leaned back in her chair, knowing Jeff would take the bait. He did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It wasn’t bad, it was actually pretty good.” Jeff said as he leaned back in his chair with an even smugger look on his face than Britta.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jeffrey! You already slept with her?!” Shirley shouted at Jeff and then immediately clamped a hand over her mouth as Britta shot a death glare at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow Britta, I’m 20 minutes late and you’ve already told them what I told you in confidence?” Jeff said as he tutted at her. Britta switched the target of her death glare on to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t change the topic, 2 dinners in, and you already slept with her. I honestly don’t know what I expected from you but it was behavior a little better than that.” Britta said with disgust visible in her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you must know, we didn’t sleep together in the sense you’re thinking of. We fell asleep on the couch together and that’s why I’m late, I didn’t have an alarm ready and I woke up just about 30 minutes ago.” Jeff said, telling most of the truth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow, Jeff is a closet cuddler!” Troy exclaimed from his spot at the edge of the table, excited at the new revelation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m pretty sure he’s in a different closet, am I right Troy.” Pierce added and attempted to give Troy a fist bump which was steadfastly ignored.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, we may have cuddled, but I don’t see what the big deal is. What I do in my free time is none of this group's business. We all have lives to live outside of each other.” Jeff said as he looked around, “Or is that just me?” He added sarcastically, even though the statement held a lot of truth to it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jeff, we get it, you’re all cool and mysterious but don’t you think we should know about who you’re dating?” Annie asked with only a hint of sadness showing on her face. Jeff looked at her, unamused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think you should know who I am dating. The last time I told you about somebody I was dating the relationship fell apart within a month, and I may not be blaming that on you, but I also am.” Jeff said hoping to add an air of finality to the subject.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you are dating her now?” Britta asked, Jeff immediately cringed. Who knew such a simple question could be so hard to answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um, no--” Jeff began to say but was quickly cut off by Britta.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jesus Christ, Jeff!” Britta exclaimed, earning a throat clearing from Shirley. “It can’t be that hard to ask somebody out, and you are so obviously into her. Who knew Jeff Winger was capable of love but it looks like that's what you're in.” Britta said like she was an all-knowing being, just causing Jeff to scoff at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“First of all Britta, I don’t think you can say shit about love. Second off, it isn’t that simple. I have to get time with her without Taylor and the last time that happened she was already sleeping on me.” He chose to ignore the aww echoing over from Shirley’s seat. “So there hasn’t been a good opportunity yet, but I’m talking to her tonight. Is that enough for you all, or do you have any other comments to make?” Jeff asked the entire group.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I actually saw a cat penis the other day, it was quite the experience.” Troy commented, earning a sarcastic eye roll from Jeff.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was there, it was a big moment.” Abed added to support Troy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, what I meant was are there any comments regarding Brea that you all would like to make that I will most likely not dignify with a response.” Jeff said as he leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I do.” Shirley said. “Why do you always put your damn feet on the table, it isn’t decent Jeffrey.” Shirley admonished. Jeff slowly pulled his feet down from the table, scared of Shirley going into mom mode.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jeff does that as a signal of power because of his role as the leader of this group.” Abed commented as he put his feet up on to the table himself. “See, this makes me look powerful like I am above all of you peasants.” Abed said while he leaned back into his chair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t do it to signify power, I sit like that because it’s comfortable.” Jeff said, visibly offended.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that one Jeff, this is nowhere near comfortable.” Abed commented as he lowered his feet to the ground and returned to sitting in his normal position. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With that comment, the study group returned to its normal banter that occurred every day. Jeff throwing in his occasional sarcastic and witty comment, Troy and Abed being Troy and Abed, Pierce being offensive on all fronts. Annie trying to make them study and giving up, Shirley being passive-aggressive, and Britta being outright aggressive.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeff realized how much he appreciated the normalcy his study group brought him in that moment. Brea may have ripped his heart into pieces that one fateful night years ago, but even though he would never admit it, his study group had begun helping him pick up the pieces. Of course he still planned on hiding behind his facade of not feeling anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the group started to split up for their various classes Jeff was distracted by his thoughts and made no move to leave. As more and more of the group left Jeff noticed too late and was soon left alone with Annie. He had been subconsciously avoiding her since he revealed everything about Brea due to the crush he knew she had on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Annie, could I borrow a pen? I wasn’t able to go home and grab my stuff.” Jeff asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t miss the flash of anger that came over Annie’s face before she responded. “Yes I’ll give you a pen, but you have to give it back.” She said as she started to go through her bag to find a pen for him. Once she had found one and given it to Jeff he saw a serious look come over her face like she was steeling herself to say something. Jeff became worried and started to fidget in his seat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Jeff, I just want to let you know that I’m okay with you and Brea. I know we kind of had a thing, but she seems good for you.” Annie said, and from the pained expression on her face, Jeff could tell it was hard for her to say.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well Annie, that’s pretty mature of you to say. I appreciate it, it’s actually become important to me what all of you guys think for some reason.” Jeff said as he began to stand up, having no items to pack up except for the pen he had pocketed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Awww, Jeff. You actually like us!” Annie squealed as she ran up to Jeff for a hug, he managed to hold her back at the last second.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, you may be growing on me. If you tell anybody I will deny it till the ends of the earth, understand?” Jeff asked while holding Annie’s shoulders at a distance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Understood, big bad Jeff Winger has found a heart.” Annie singsonged as she exited the room, Jeff couldn’t help but agree with her on it too. He had found his heart where it was last left, with Brea. As he went to his next class the anticipation for seeing her that night only grew.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The happily ever after</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the end, it's pretty short but it didn't need to be long. I hope you all enjoy it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As Jeff walked away from the study room he felt his phone buzz and he excitedly took it out expecting a text from Brea. He couldn’t help the small flutter in his heart when he noticed it was from her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Saw your note, you can come over tonight. I enjoyed last night too :)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>-Mommy, 11:23 A.M.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He felt an enormous grin come over his face and he had no questions about how the night was gonna go for him. He sent back a text confirming he would be there and pocketed his phone still grinning like an idiot. He didn’t care at all about hiding his emotions anymore, this was the happiest he had felt in a long time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sauntered to class with a skip in his step replaying his previous kiss with Brea and thinking about how he was gonna top it. He got some looks from people in the halls due to the massive grin plastered on his face but he didn’t care one bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His classes seemed to last even longer than normal that day. Everything moved at a snail's pace around him and all he could think about was Brea, Brea’s lips, the feeling of Brea sleeping on top of him. He was positively love struck and he didn’t mind one bit. She may have broken his heart the first time around but he felt that this would be their time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as his last class ended Jeff was out of the door as quickly as possible without drawing attention to himself. He walked through the halls and out to his car with one purpose and one purpose only, and that purpose was Brea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he made his way to Brea’s house he started to get into his own head. He was pretty sure Brea felt the same way about him but he couldn’t be sure. What if she cut him out of Taylor’s life because of this? Was it really worth the risk?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff slapped his steering wheel as he pulled up to Brea’s house. Psyching himself out wouldn’t do anybody any good. He needed to get this out now and he was gonna do it. Pep talk done he got out of his car and walked up to the house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knocked on Brea’s door, hands sweaty, even after his pep talk to himself he was still super nervous. Brea opened the door and he was greeted to the beautiful sight of her in casual clothes. He honestly believed she could wear a garbage bag and he would still be drawn to her like a moth to a light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He noticed he had been staring so he drew his gaze up to her eyes. “So, can I come in?” He asked and Brea, who seemed to be equally flustered, moved out of his way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soooo, why did you come over?” She asked as she twirled her hair, seemingly a nervous tic, but incredibly endearing to Jeff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um I wanted to tell you something.” He said as he himself began looking for anything to distract himself from his now even more intense nerves. He began to psych himself out once again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what would that be?” Brea prompted as Jeff had fallen silent, he decided to just run with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve needed to get this off my chest for a long time, so please just wait until I’m done to say anything.” Jeff said and Brea nodded. “When you left that night 11 years ago it broke my heart, I was lost after it. I tried to get my life together in some far fetched attempt to win you back, I became a lawyer, I got successful but nothing ever filled that hole in my heart. I went on dates, but I could only ever compare them to you. And surprise surprise, none of them were anywhere near as perfect as you. What I’m trying to say Brea, is that you have my heart, you always have, and always will.” Jeff coming down from the adrenaline rush noticed that Brea had begun to cry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, why are you crying? Did I say something wro--” Jeff was cut off as Brea launched herself at him and pulled him into the tightest hug he had experienced in his life and buried her head into the crook of his neck as sobs continued to rack her body. Jeff returned the hug with the same amount of energy, some tears of his own starting to spill out as well. The sobs slowly subsided and Brea calmed in his arms, enough to finally talk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t say anything wrong. You said just about everything I’ve wanted to hear for the last 11 years.” Brea pulled back slightly from the hug to look Jeff directly in the eyes. “No man could ever compare to you, I love you so much Jeff.” She said while staring directly into his eyes, more tears trailing down her cheeks. Jeff had to choke back his own sob, tears flowing freely down his cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you too Brea, so damn much.” Jeff said as he pulled Brea back into a tight hug, just wanting to appreciate the warmth of her body. Both of them let the tears flow openly as they just appreciated each other.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Jeff pulled back from the hug he looked down into Brea’s eyes and the green eyes were all he wanted to look at for the rest of his life. He leaned into a chaste kiss with her, no longer holding the fire of the kiss from the first dinner, but holding much more meaning. Jeff had imagined this moment for a long time, and it exceeded all of his expectations.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed this story!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any kudos or comments are greatly appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>